Epistle to John of Antioch

In his “Epistle to John of Antioch” (probably 432-433), St. Cyril of Alexandria expresses concern about the teaching of the Archbishop Nestorius of Constantinople, which caused turmoil in the Church. St. Cyril points out that many pious Christians have stopped attending divine services, since Nestorius in his sermons interprets the faith, contradicting the Tradition of the Fathers, denying, in particular, the naming of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Theotokos. The saint reports that he had already written to Nestorius, admonishing him to abandon his erroneous views, but he perceived this as hostility. Moreover, Nestorius sent his writings to Rome, where they were examined by a council of bishops headed by Pope Celestine and unanimously condemned as heresy. St. Cyril gave copies of his correspondence with Nestorius to the Roman Church, confirming his position. The author of the message emphasizes that the decision of the Roman Council must be accepted by all who are in communion with the Western Church, and calls on the archbishop. John of Antioch to act wisely in following this judgment for the sake of preserving the unity of faith and peace in the Church. The message ends with fraternal greetings. To my lord, beloved brother and co-servant John, Cyril wishes every good thing in the Lord. Your piety is probably fully aware, in many cases, of the current state of the holy Church of Constantinople, that it is now in extreme turmoil, and that many of the people known for a pious and good life are withdrawing from meetings for public worship, seeing that a very important change is being made in their faith by the teachings that the highly venerable Bishop Nestorius speaks in this church. In my letters to him, I advised him to refrain from such wrong and wicked interpretations, and to follow the faith of the fathers; but he thought that I wrote this out of hostility towards him. Not only did he not want to pay attention to the fact that I wrote this out of love for him, but he thought that he could also instill such strange opinions and words in the Romans. Having set out his strange teaching in a lengthy letter, he sent it to my lord, the most pious bishop of the Roman Church, Celestine. In his letters, refuting those who think differently from him, he also placed the following words: “without trepidation they call the Holy Virgin the Mother of God.” He also sent him notebooks with his interpretations. All the most pious bishops who are in the great city of Rome, in their multiple meetings, having read them, condemned him; indicating clearly that he had invented the most wicked heresy, which none of the previous heretics had ever invented. When Nestorius wrote about this there, I, for my part, had to give news of everything that happened between us, send copies of my letters to him, and for this purpose the cleric of the Alexandrian Church, beloved deacon Posidonius, was immediately sent. There, in the meeting of bishops, the letters were read, especially those that did not give rise to any unfair interpretation, such as those signed by himself. The Holy Roman Council gave direct judgment about them, which he has already written about for your piety. All who are in communion with the Western churches are obliged to obey his decree. Copies from it were sent to the most God-loving Rufus, Bishop of Thessalonica, and to other pious Macedonian bishops, who always agree with his judgments. They wrote about the same thing to Juvenal, the most pious bishop of Elyea 1. Now it depends on your piety to see what is best for you to do. We will agree with the judgments of him (the Bishop of Rome), fearing to be separated from communion with those who became indignant due to something not related to them, became alarmed and gave their judgment not in some unimportant matter, but for the defense of the faith itself, the churches, which are all now in alarm, and the improvement of the nations. Say our good wishes to the brothers who are with you; the brethren who are with me greet you. You might be interested in: